MYOB simplifies invoicing with PayDirect mobile app
Research by MYOB shows that two-thirds of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) do not offer credit card as a payment option, and as a result of it 1 in 10 have lost customers.
To help SMEs resolve this issue, the company has launched a mobile payment solution, called MYOB PayDirect, for a limited release on 2 April to allow them to receive payments and issue invoices.
MYOB head of product services, connected services Matt Mulligan said cash flow is one of the biggest pain points of SMEs.
"Business owners don't start businesses to become accountants or chase down invoicing, they go into business to do what they want to do. They're really not brilliant at collecting payments or invoicing," he said.
The free mobile app has been designed to integrate with MYOB's existing cloud solution AccountRight, so payments are automatically entered into clients' books. It also enables receipts and invoices to be delivered to their customers on the spot.
According to Mulligan, MYOB customers set out four criteria for the company to meet when PayDirect was being designed. These were that it had to be an easy to use solution, it would enable them to handle invoice and payments at the same time, it would allow them to do bookwork as they went, and it had to work in all formats whether that's on-premise or mobile.
"Managing all this stuff sitting at your computer is a pain, and they usually do it on a Saturday," he said.
"Usually, the sooner you do it, the closer you invoice to point of purchase time, the quicker people will pay. But at the moment people just usually put it off. With this solution, it's expected to save SMEs an average of 18 hours a month," he said.
MYOB has also introduced the MYOB PayDirect card reader that plugs into the audio jack of an Apple iPhone or Android smartphone. It has been designed to accept daily 'swipe and sign' and 'chip and sign' credit cards transactions up to AU$2,500.
The account software firm has partnered with Mint Wireless as the mobile payments gateway provider and Bendigo Bank to provide merchant accounts for MYOB PayDirect.
MYOB initially announced the launch of MYOB PayDirect together with several other new mobile apps and cloud accounting products in February, which CEO Tim Reed said is part of MYOB's plan to "up the ante" in its cloud offerings for all businesses, from micro to mid-sized.